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Merana Little
Merana Little, legally named''' Merana Shenqing Ci''' or she/her is a 2015-introduced original character, avid saxophone enthusiast, and aspiring author. They are destined to be the next Rusalka from the opera of the same name by Antonín Leopold Dvořák. They are currently attending their Legacy Year (Second Year) at Ever After High. Growing up with Death's presence at their shoulder, and worse, the guarantee that Death was indeed there, Merana holds a twisted view of their purpose in life. They hesitate to let go of a self-concieved notion of their inferiority, however obviously detrimental it may be. Irrational as it is, Merana finds romance in despair and trades what is the right choice for what is a momentary distraction. At times they can be overzealous in their aspirations, hungry for whatever accomplishment they can get before their early demise. Because of this, Merana is simultaneously hopelessly idealistic with self-standards, and distrustful of what the future will bring. Even though Merana worries each new day, most notably for their identity and their future, they hold themself nonchalantly, preferring to cry into their covers. For the time being, they grace themselves with a cover of mirthful light and sharp wit, dryly jovial yet credible, lovely light waves hiding troubled waters. And though Merana wishes they were not so uncertain all the time, not so selfish and unwilling to accept, they cannot find it within themselves to break from their reverie. Character Personality Merely what appears to be yet another Little Mermaid variant in the grand scheme of things, Merana worries for her sense of identity and the pressure of Destiny and Co. Amongst dozens of other fated-to-die water-themed teens, she feels as if the concept of fate and taking on a legacy has caused her to change greatly from who she was, and who she wants to be. Most notably, she sees her skills as useless, and her purpose obsolete. However, a substantial fear of failure still seems real enough apparently.' Merana has a slight obsession with self-improvement', and desires success, whatever that may entail, before death. There is a clear divide between the kind of person Merana aspires to be and who she is with her guard down. Growing up consuming media featuring particularly jaded lone wolves has made Merana fall in love with a persona she has built to fit herself into. The prodigy distant from everyone else, the cynic, the snark, pulling badassery out of their perfectly written and edited character arcs, someone who she should aspire to be. Her romanticizing nature combined with her want of admiration and attention has led her to subconsciously try and fit into the role better, even forcing herself to put up the facade. And over the years, it has come more and more naturally to her. The identity Merana strives to be half her waking moments is wryly and dryly humorous, remarking on daily incidents with oh-so-seemingly blasé comments, handling everything life throws at them with cheek, dramatic flair, and morbid humor. She should excel in all areas, garnering praise and trust from her elders, inspiring awe in her peers, while treating the matter as if it was not enough. She must raise her eyebrows at the most opportune moments, scoff and murmur, half-lidded eyes bearing boredom and absolute superiority, win all arguments and always have a snappy one-liner ready. And, as is standard, exist as if personal lighting, make-up, sound, and wardrobe crews were with her at all times. Very much so not this persona she exhibits, Merana is uncomfortably aware that she's changing her behavior' to imitate what she admires'. And though being true to herself and having people genuinely admire her'' is'' somewhat of a goal, Merana enjoys the feeling of being superior, she enjoys this passive-aggressiveness because she doesn't know how to express discontent otherwise. As you would expect, the harshness of this persona has seeped into Merana and incorporated itself into her personality. Merana, when she is not trying to embody a TV Tropes page, is expressive to a large degree. She's easily excitable at the mention of say, instruments or cooking, easily frustrated when she is disrupted, and all too easily nervous when faced with just about anything. Through smiles and narrowed eyes and movement and energy and irritated huffs, Merana lets herself crack open a cold bottled emotion, long-coveted and long-delayed. However, her issues with self-image and identity are also noticeably apparent with the loss of her pretense. Merana craves attention and praise, she idealizes being put on a pedestal, and she becomes desperate when there's a noticeable lack of validation. This is an especially difficult mindset to deal with when you attend a school that is currently contemplating the validity of a then widely-accepted metaphysical law. No biggie. Stress tends to multiply in situations like these. Merana, having been awarded a prestigious destiny because of hard work, glamorizes high self-standards. By nature she is an over-achiever, eager to improve and with no shortage of a telltale perfectionist attitude. However, she often pushes this to the extreme, wanting to better her skills so much that she gets overwhelmed with what she perceives as the quota. Not to mention, she has such high standards for herself, disguising them as expectations of others, that she becomes unhealthily obsessed with her work. After competing with others for so long, Merana developed an idea that if she were not up to par, whatever that may be, she would fail, whatever that may be. Her feelings of helplessness and dependency when she was younger were self-interpreted as weaknesses, consequently she started feeling like she was weak. To deal with this, she finds comfort in success, usually in academics, subconsciously trying to find peace through attention. She also tends to overthink anything and everything, getting nervous and fussing over the smallest details. Partly because of her ever-embellishing nature and partly because she's kind of pretentious. Because she gravitates towards much too grandiose ideas for simple situations, she ends up running herself exhausted. As a perfectionist, and also as someone who longs to be effortlessly talented, this is torture. And speaking of wanting to be effortlessly talented, Merana has bouts of laziness where she's so exhausted that she gives up on doing anything until she guilts herself into working again.. Merana's self-consciousness and easy embarrassment also rears its ugly head in her pride. For all she pretends, Merana is actually really sensitive to criticism and insults, and being aware of that piles shame and guilt onto her ego. She tells herself that as an aspri\iring composer. acceptance of criticism is an important skill, and yet tears form every time someone raises their voice at her. Speaking of egos, Merana has a habit that is rapidly growing in popularity: self deprecation in order for others to intervene and contradict. The basis of this habit is: 1) Do something that is quite awesome. 2) Pretend either a) "It's not that good" or b) "It was pretty easy!" 3) Attention and awe!! 4) hooray. There have been many points in time where Merana deliberately manipulates other people into supplying validation. To wrap up, Merana's kind of a nervous wreck that manages to keep everything under wraps by distracting people with spontaneous wordplay and self-deprecative humor. She wishes she could be naturally talented, and teeters between working really hard and wasting hours daydreaming about who she could be. She has a lot of aspirations, and a lot of fear too. We can only hope she'll find what makes her happy before her death, whether it be a few years or a few decades down the road. Appearance 'Human Form' In their more humanoid form, Merana seems to be a taller than average teenager of Chinese descent. They have a more feminine appearance, though their style is rather androgynous. In terms of skin color, they have a medium to light complexion with a neutral tone and a naturally darker dorsal side due to their aquatic heritage. Keratosis pilaris comes in the form of harmless little bumps near her shoulders. Merana stands at 5'7" (170 cm) without heels, a fact they are very proud of. They have somewhat broad shoulders that they occasionally showcase with posture that isn't terrible and the god-given proportions of long legs. While they enjoy athletic activities, their build rarely strays from "kinda toned but not really". Any muscle that they do have is hidden underneath a soft stomach and squishy thighs. Sometimes they wear a binder and sometimes they don't! It really depends on the day. Their face is rather round and still chubby, retaining baby fat. When crying, respiring anaerobically, cold, or a mixture of all three, rosiness takes home in their cheeks. Merana has a slightly flatter nose, unplucked (but not thick) eyebrows, and lips that usually have some sort of balm on them due to their dryness. Their eyes seem to be black but they're actually very dark brown with flecks of orange here and there. Upon close inspection the iris resembles a fishbowl filled with inky water sloshing about. Sometimes, magic fluctuations can bring out the orange.They are framed with long dark lashes. For pretty much all their life, Merana has had a short bob, with cute blunt bangs as a kid, later becoming an emo side part and a sloping trim. Recently though, they've cut it shorter on one side, not shaving it down but trimming it much more. They've also dyed it in a black to turquoise ombre, leaving natural roots. While expecting destroyed hair (their reluctance to dye it in the first place), it has surprisingly remained pretty healthy! Merana also has several piercings. She has the usual two lobes and an industrial on her right ear. She really enjoys finding nautical themed earrings and her favorite anchor industrial earring was specially commissioned as a reward for winning her destiny. In the future Merana will get a tattoo or two, and she's already started planning what they will be. 'Merfolk Form' Merana's human-merfolk transformation kind of exists on a slider, if that makes any sense. They are able to control it for the most part, meaning that they can decide on legs or tail. But oftentimes more otherworldly aspects will crop up in their human form and vice versa naturally. To this, they usually don't bother attempting to consciously change it since they see it as "it is what it is". In their most humanoid form possible, they have gill scars on their neck and outlines of or actual scales here and there. As the slider moves up, fins appear on the Merana's forearms and calves, growing larger and more prominent. The legs-to-tail transformation is a binary however, otherwise it would be. very. unpractical. Further changes are functionality of gills, slightly glowy eyes with black-green irises, and a more prominent dorsal to ventral skin tone gradient. Their fins are translucent black, darkening at the tips. The shape is a long and rather crumpled sort of affair, jagged but droopy, soft to the touch. You'd think they'd be a nuisance in the water but they're surprisingly hydrodynamic. Her tail is about 7 feet, or 2 meters, not counting the tail fin, average for her age. The scales are glassy black with silver undertones, and in some lighting you can clearly see dappled areas of faint traces of emerald. The tail fin starts out as translucent silvery-green and ends majestically in translucent silvery-black, spanning about 3 feet in width and 2 feet in length. Her skin takes on a slightly silver tint, black darkening her remaining limbs, and her teeth take on a shark-like aspect. MerMer's eyes glow more luminously, and her movements are smoother. Silver green scales can be found here and there, around her arms and neck. She is able to do as she does on land in the water. Except, y'know. Walk. And everything associated with walking. Interests very much into all the arts. ranked from highest to lowest interest Music production, composition, and playing. Plays the erhu and multiple saxophones. Fashion finding a way to dress like a suave prince/princess when you're a middle-class fish 'Cooking' makes a mean seaweed quiche 'Books' likes writing and reading 'Dance' compulsory ballet classes, but likes all sorts of dance. will do a lil shimmy. Mostly into energetic, acrobatic dances, not too much into slow stuff. Ex: swing, hip-hop, latin. only recently branch out and interest 'Theater' not so much into being on the stage as helping put together a production. ties in with music i guess what with performing. Abilities 'Merfolk Deriven' The most obvious ability of Merana is being able to turn their legs into a tail. As a magical creature they are granted a couple of differences in addition to this. Merana heals slightly quicker than the average human, and their senses are heightened. For example, Merana has unnaturally sharp eyesight, a more aware sense of touch, and can pick up more subtle scents. Their hearing is average though, since it isn't very utilized in the life of a merfolk. Speaking of merfolk life, Merana is fluent in the sirenic language, or at least the dialect in their area. Underwater, the language requires careful interpretation of vibrations from sound waves and signing as an accompaniment. It's neither efficient nor understandable on land, and so on calls to home they'll take them in a pool or just speak in the common tongue. For this reason many merfolk tend to be good at the common tongue. weird way of crying pretty much it Fairytale- Rusalka How The Story Goes Rusalka How Does Merana Fit Into it? The previous Rusalka (insert link here to new character later) disappeared after her story had ended, leaving behind no contact information, and more importantly, no heir. When the Fairytale Authorities finally found her, forcefully expelled her from the gloomy bog she was residing in, and reminded her of her duties as a legacy, she refused to cooperate, causing a massive magical implosion at the area. Some common local gossip is that she renounced her title as Rusalka and as the princess and heir to the lake, discarding her magic. Others will argue "no no, that was intentionally spread by the authorities, using the controversial action of renouncing her title to corner her. They have her in custody- no they're still searching for her! She's still on the run! and they're utilizing their influence. If she doesn't cooperate she'll lose her title and inheritance and if she does- well, that's good for them, eh?" Still others will say "aw, come off it! She's definitely in custody, don't you know who was in the sect that met with her? They had these crazy rookies! Look, I heard one of 'em took out her right eye! And she's in that secret government-protected prison now and she's- aww she's a tough cookie she's not budgin'! No sirree, no torture could make her submit to the devil's will. And-" Anyways, there was a more important matter at hand: a new Rusalka was needed. ...Well, perhaps the matter was not so important, seeing as how the situation was left unresolved for many years after that faithful encounter. It was only due to the urgings by one of the smaller branches of the White family that a new Rusalka was called for at all. Enter: Merana, 9 years old. A resident of one of the smaller, quieter lakes of New Orc City. Possesses ability to have legs, currently undergoing an education on land with supplementary merfolk classes on weekends. Born, and here's the interesting part, to parents without destinies. There was a relatively large ruckus made of the (then) current Rusalka disappearing. In the history of Ever After this event was not considered too prominent on the rebellion scene as it had a small public reaction, because of the insignificance of the story. Regardless of the substantial amount of news publicizing the issue, there were other concerns that greatly overshadowed it. In any case, any shock that was present was quickly wiped away when the (acronym) was announced. The (acronym) Parallels *Even though Merana's sirenic roots are not of those rooted in singing to seduce sailors, she still has interest in music. Why? Because their story is an opera! Furthermore, their interest goes beyond singing and delves into composition and performance of music, seeing as operas have both of those components. Merana plays instruments that are generally used as accompaniments to a theater performance. *g Viewpoint on Destiny Merana has a complicated relationship with destiny. On one hand, she's proud of her own achievement in working for the spot, on the other hand she's horrified at what she unknowingly condemned herself to. She's made her family proud, acquired a destiny while being born to parents without ones, and yet it was the result of being young and desperate. Justifiably angry at the world for preying on a child, Merana does not wish to go through with her destiny, yet holds a fear of what will happen if she does not. Name Merana was born Merana Shenqing Ci. In real-life, she would be of Chinese descent, and so she has a Chinese name: 刺深清.Her middle name is just the romanization of her Chinese name 深清. Similarly, her last name is also the romanization of 刺. 刺深清 is spelled cì shēnqīng in Mandarin romanization. Remember that in China the last name appears first! Merana is a name of Italian origin, meaning "woman of the waters". It was chosen for obvious reasons. 深 itself means "deep" and the character is used in conjunction with other characters to form phrases like "profound" and "dark", referencing the dark nature of the story. 清 means "clear" and can form phrases like "clean" and "quiet", referencing what water is often associated with being. These two meanings kind of contradict each other, since they're not typically thought to be on the same page. The three dots on the left side of both characters is the water radical, again, chosen for obvious reasons. Without the water radical, 清 becomes 青, meaning "blue-green" or "black". 深 without the water radical is 罙, which is pronounced differently and apparently either has no meaning or also means deep??? This is relevant to Merana because it's a mess and Merana is also a mess. 刺 means many things, and is translated as "spine", "thorn", "sting", "prick", etc. However it's also used (in the creator's experiences as least) as a term for the very fine bones of a fish. After her coronation as the new Rusalka, Merana took on the last name Little. However, she finds something off with using it, and deeply wishes she could return to her original name. She has a nickname, MerMer, that quite a few people know her by and call her, though she prefers only her close friends to use it. Education Class-ic Schedule anyways tba 'Freedom Year' core classes: Advanced Placement Bi-ogre-y, Honors Creative Storytelling I, Tale-gebra II, Geografairy eah specific: Princessology I electives: Princess Design, Introductory Muse-ic Theory 'Legacy Year' Advanced Placement Muse-ic Theory, Advanced Ballet Advanced Placement Chemythstry, Pre-Crownculus, Advanced Placement Meropean Hi-story, Honors Creative Storytelling II Princessology II, Honors Magicology I 'Yearbook Year' Advanced Placement Physhex, Advanced Placement Crownculus, Honors Advanced Allusions and Cross-Cultural References I, Advanced Placement History of Tall Tales I, Princessology III, Honors Magicology II Kingdom Management II- skipped straight ahead to this. struggles since not having taken the I class, but is kind of debating whether they'll die so they want to be prepared for if they don't. 'Fourth Year' Honors Advanced Allusions and Cross-Cultural References II, Advanced Placement History of Tall Tales II, Advanced Placement Statishex Honors Magicology III, Princessology IIII Throne Economics- relaxing Hextracurricular Activities 'Drama Club' tba 'Big Bad-minton Club' not the sports team, don't have time. Likes to play for fun with team members though. 'Swim Team' duh Merana is exempted from Grimmnastics due to them being on the swim team. Relationships Family Merana has a conflicted view of her parents, to say the least. She loves them but can't help get sick of their fighting. Sometimes they are supportive, sometimes they are unreasonable. Most of all, the circumstances of events that led to her getting her resented destiny heavily concerns her parents. will expand later. Of course on the other side they know nothing of her feelings and view her as a good daughter. Friends Desi - teetering on that friend/crush tightrope Cop- are you ever just really gay for your friend Dami - goth nerds unite Clerval- tba Acquaintances Dery- ooh gay Adoette- juxtaposition. merana is not aware of (insert name here)'s somewhat hostile feelings towards her. tba Enemies hum de dum Pets Mererid- During the Animal Calling lesson, Merana received a magical ship figurehead she named Mererid. Mererid is a magical creature as it is an enchanted piece of sea treasure. don't read please Romance For a siren, she's actually quite useless at romance. Has somewhat of a crush/admiration thing going on for many people. Oufits As they are considered royal by title, though not blood, Merana makes an effort to dress well. They tend to gravitate towards a color palette of blues, greens, and varying shades of black. Nautical motifs are often utilized, like anchors, seashells, ocean waves, etc. Most if not all of what Merana wears is customized in some way. Due to their interest in fashion, they enjoy going to thrift stores and picking out interesting items to add a personal touch to. Themes It's like impossible to find songs for them. TBA Trivia * Merana is sapphic! they proceed to laugh because sapphic? like, the color, sapphire? blue? like them! * Gender is. confusion. Fairymerica eggsplain. * They have a fear of losing their eyesight, or being visually impaired in general. Their vision is fine, however laying off the electronics would not hurt. Quotes Notes * she's changed so much oh my god Relevant Links Her diary is here Her mirror blog is here They're both being renovated at the moment though... Gallery If anyone wants to draw her, feel free to! owo Art Merana....MERMAID.JPG|a rather fishy merana IMG 0129-1-.jpg|a human merana, with a swanky umbrella overlay fun.png|some overlay fun MerMerbyJK.jpg|First Basic, done by meh! Image.jpg|MerMer as a superhero! MeranaLittleFanArt.png|A really cool fanart by the awesome Rudino! Merana Little Fanart.jpg|Ohmygod, Gummi did such a great job on this! Thank you! :3 Merana fanart.png|Sheepy did this amazing art of MerMer! Thank you :3 BelsArtOfMerana.jpeg|BIG thanks to Bel for doing some awesome art of MerMer! Merana Little Getting Fairest Sketch.jpg|MerMer's Getting Fairest by Jade! MeranaRedraw.jpeg|Awww, Tay did such a cute job on chibi MerMer! Mermerlegacy.png|LD by Mina! THANK YOU! MeranaLittleMirrorBeachByKatechi.png|By Katechi, commissioned by Bessie|link=http://katechi.deviantart.com/ MeranaLittleLegacyDayFArt.png|MerMer's Legacy Day, done by Rudino! Mer is Mad.jpg|one angry lad by Patches Meeeeeeeeer.png|zena thank you omg References Category:Characters Category:Neutrals Category:Characters of the Month Category:Protagonists Category:Nonbinary Category:Rusalka Category:Royalty Category:Mermaids Category:Shapeshifters Category:Princesses Category:LGBTA+ Category:Donut's Stuff Category:Donut Hunters Category:Work in progress